Monday, January 6, 2014

Chilly

I just came back in from taking water to the chickens for the 3rd time today, and adding wood to the burner for the 4th time. This time I started with warm water, so that it might take a bit longer to solidify. It is 1 degree F out there - cold enough that even for the 3 minutes it took me to take out water and throw on a log, I bundled up in coat, scarf, hat, boots and gloves. My nostrils froze together anyway, and the water that I spilled on the way out the door was an icy patch by the time I returned. The kitties have a heated water bowl for winter, and there was even ice on the top of that a few minutes ago.

All of these chores haven't left me much time for blogging (for those of you who keep checking...yeah, you know who you are!)

Today was supposed to be my first regular Monday to work. The 5:30 AM call from the school district about inclimate weather causing a 2 hour delay woke me sufficiently so that I never returned to sleep. By the time I came in from checking the wood burner for the first time this morning, the delay had been changed to a full on Snow Day, so the girls hung out with my parents for a few hours.

At the office, the staff frantically called patients, and changed most of the appointments to the morning, so I worked through lunch, and then came home early today. Not so bad. I think that everyone has already cancelled for tomorrow.

The temperatures are supposed to drop into the negatives overnight.

The wind is howling, as it always does when the weather changes so dramatically. (When I went to bed last night, it was 50 degrees and raining!)

I have been worried about the chickens. I put additional panels around the bottom of the Egg Cart'n this morning to block the wind and some of the cold. They seem perky enough out there, despite the deep freeze. I have already collected 7 very cold eggs today, which is a big improvement over numbers in November and December. If we can keep these ladies from turning into Chick-sicles overnight, I think things might be making a turn for the better!